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Revision as of 07:34, 16 March 2013
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Joshua Roberts Richards isn't the most successful PI; clients aren't exactly lining up around the block but he lives in hope that one day his luck will change… and it does. Within a couple of weeks he has a sudden plethora of enquirers; the bad news is that none of them seem to live long enough to pay him. Meanwhile elsewhere, the Engine powering the world (literally) is dying, although the populous is blissfully oblivious. Is there a connection? Joshua Roberts Richards doesn't know, but there seems to be a huge part of himself he's not acquainted with either… at least not yet.
Australian author Mark Lingane started writing ''Beyond Belief'' 17 years ago. In fact we wouldn't have seen it at all if [[:Category:Iain Broome|Iain Broome]] hadn't encouraged him to finish it. We should all be grateful: this is a novel that would be wasted in a wardrobe. However it defies genre boundaries. If you asked me I'd suggest it's the lovechild of [[:Category:Douglas Adams|Douglas Adams']] Dirk Gently and Raymond Chandler's Phillip Marlowe with a genetic twist of [[:Category:Kate Griffin|Kate Griffin's]] [[A Madness of Angels by Kate Griffin|Matthew Swift]]; a genome that seems to work really well.
This mixture of normal and off-piste also seeps into the characters. Some are classic detective casting, like the femme fatale and those who may not be all they seem. There's also a side-kick; the comic shop assistant, computer geek and puppy-eager Damien is a perfect foil to RobertsRichards' world-weary ways. However there are also the unworldly deus ex-machina types who just cry out for a prequel.
At the beginning the language may not always flow seamlessly but don’t let this put you off. It's the sound of a car warming up and, once moving, it switches up a gear as we realise this is a classy ride. Its setting is decorated a shade of dark dystopia (although Madness tracks are still played) and the humour is just as black but hilariously so. A couple of jokes may miss the mark, but you're too busy revelling in the others to notice. For instance, I've never laughed so loudly at a morgue scene before. (You had to be there!)
We're entrusted with privileged information, having been told about the malfunctioning Engine and the ominous powers behind it before Joshua or his fellow inhabitants realise. In this way it doesn't matter if the Engine doesn't appear again till much later. We're aware of the miasma of menace behind this world and we can feel something apocalyptic brewing.
By the time I'd reached the end through some clever twists and turns, the final one being left for the last line (if you peek you're only cheating yourself as you'll miss out on so much), I was left with two wishes. The first is a wish to come across Joshua Roberts Richards again, the second being that I don't have to wait another 17 years to do so. Perhaps if we all ask nicely?
If you like your PIs to have a sense of quirk, meet [[Harry Lipkin, Private Eye: The Oldest Detective in the World by Barry Fantoni|Harry Lipkin]] and [[The Polka Dot Girl by Darragh McManus|Eugenie Auf de Maur]].
